Turner will not tolerate 'losers' at Wednesday

Chris Turner said he would banish the "losing culture" at Sheffield Wednesday after taking over as manager of the struggling First Division club yesterday.

The former Wednesday goalkeeper left his post at the Third Division leaders, Hartlepool United, to move to Hillsborough as the replacement for Terry Yorath, who resigned last Thursday. Turner, who has signed a contract that runs until the end of the 2004-05 season, said survival was the priority, with Wednesday second from bottom in the First Division having won only two league matches this season.

"I'd love to take this club into the Premiership, but my main aim this season is to keep them in the First Division," Turner said. "There's a losing culture at the club which has to be addressed and I don't want players with poor attitudes around me. My first job is to instill some confidence in players."

The 44-year-old, Wednesday's seventh manager in five years, said he was delighted to have been given the chance to manage the team he has supported all his life. "This is the only football club I'd have left Hartlepool for at this particular time," he said.

Wednesday's chief executive, Alan Sykes, said he and the club's board were confident Turner would be a success. "We'd seen Chris' development at Hartlepool and did our research. We were very impressed with him as soon as we met him," he said.

Sykes, who spoke to the former Sunderland manager, Peter Reid, earlier this week, said Turner was not second choice for the job. "We never actually offered the job to Peter," he said. "We discussed the position with him and he said it was the right club at the wrong time."

Glenn Hoddle, Tottenham Hotspur's manager, is planning to make a £1m offer for Hibernian's captain, Ian Murray, who can play either as a defensive midfielder or a centreback, when the transfer window opens.

Dennis Wise has received "a number" of death threats, according to his club, Millwall. The former England midfielder was sacked by Leicester City this summer after an incident in which team-mate Callum Davidson suffered a fractured cheekbone and then joined Leicester's First Division rivals.

The Manchester City midfielder Marc Vivien Foé will be suspended for the Premiership match with Middlesbrough on 23 November after collecting his fifth booking of the season at Wigan on Tuesday.